Lake San Antonio to Reopen for Recreation Thanks to Winter Rains

Lake San Antonio is back!

The County of Monterey and The California Parks Company are pleased to announce the re-opening of Lake San Antonio, which has been closed since July 2015 due to the drought. Thanks to the significant rainfall Monterey County has experienced, water levels at the lake have reached approximately 50% and can now accommodate recreation.

The lake will reopen in phases. The first phase will be an initial “soft” opening of South Shore on weekends only, which will allow staff to monitor the systems which have been dormant for a number of years. On Friday, April 14th, South Shore gates will open at 7:00 a.m. and close on Sunday, April 16th, at 8:00 p.m. During this soft opening period, April 14th through May 14th, the following hours of operation will be in effect and facilities will be available:

The South Shore gates will open weekends only starting Friday mornings at 7:00 a.m. and closing Sunday nights at 8:00 p.m.

The boat launch ramp at Harris Creek will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, and 6:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Camping will be available at Harris Creek, Loops A through D, and Redonda Vista, Loops A through D. During this period, no reservations will be taken. Visitors will pick a site once they arrive at the park, and there will be no “saving” of spaces. Campers will need to be at the lake and pay for a campsite to occupy the campsite.

Redonda Vista Loop E will be available for group camping only with a minimum of five paid sites per group to reserve.

Lodging units at Lynch will be available, from two-bedroom/one-bath units to three-bedroom/three-bath units.

The General Store at Lynch will be open. While there is no on-water fuel available, land-based fuel will be available near the General Store at Lynch.

There will be no lifeguards at the beaches. Swimming and boating will be “at your own risk.”

The second phase will begin May 19th. The South Shore park and lake will open 7-days a week. At this time, the Lynch Launch Ramp and Campgrounds, Loops A through D will also open and campsite reservations will be accepted.

And finally, on June 9th, the North Shore park for camping and boating will open, including the very popular lakeside camping and all the lake’s launch ramps will be open.

It is extremely important that all vessels are screened at the Entry Gate for mussels. Owners of vessels caught without a current inspection certificate will be fined $2,000.

About Lake San AntonioLake San Antonio Resort is a full service, family oriented resort conveniently located midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It is located 20-minutes North West of Lake Nacimiento. The nearest towns are Paso Robles and King City.

Lake San Antonio is located among shady oak trees, and provides some of the best camping in the State’s central are. The lodges are fully furnished and spacious. For campers, Lake San Antonio has tent and full hookup RV sites, all located in beautiful settings abundant with amazing wildlife. Lake San Antonio is famous for its great fishing, and it is home to striped bass, largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappie, catfish and bluegill.

Lake San Antonio is a man-made lake, formed by an earthfill dam on the Lake San Antonio River. The dam is 202 feet tall and was completed in 1965 under Monterey County District Engineer Loran Bunte Jr. The lake and dam are controlled by the Monterey County Water Resources Agency. The lake’s primary purpose is flood control and irrigation, but recreation is a wonderful by-product.

Happy she's reopening but it's going to be a different ball game fishing out there with the much smaller fish population and how much water is in there now. It will take a couple years for the black bass to come back to a healthy population, I'm afraid the striper fishing will never be the same. I've been praying that with the epic flows and late rains the striper have been able to get a successful spawn off but only time will tell!